The Mission Bay softball team wrapped up the first half of their season with a 6-5 record and look to close their remaining schedule strong as they are set to enter league play. The team was able to bounce back from a shaky start where it lost three of the first four games in which the Bucs won their opener against High Tech 4-2, but then lost three in a row to Coronado, La Costa Canyon, and Escondido High.

“This year’s team has shown a lot of fight and resilience,” said head coach Vincent Ichihara. “They pull for each other, root each other on, and are looking to do whatever they can to help the team.”

Mission Bay was able to end the three-game skid thanks to their offensive explosion on Feb. 28 when they defeated Chula Vista High 14-8. Unfortunately, the team was not able to build off that momentum in their following match against Santana losing in dramatic fashion 12-11.

That defeat would springboard them to a four-game winning streak starting in impressive fashion with a 17-7 blowout victory in a rematch against High Tech. They would follow that up with back-to-back shutouts over Valley Center and Sage Creek and topped it off with a hard-fought 6-4 win against Southwest SD High School. Mission Bay’s winning streak would end last Thursday after falling to Central High School from El Centro 5-3.

“Last year, we were really young and had a lot of young players who were expected to contribute,” Ichihara added. “This year we have a couple of freshmen who are contributing, but now last year’s players have experience and are playing with confidence after being in our system for a year.”

The remaining 11 games left on the regular-season schedule will have an added advantage since seven of those will be at home starting with their next one on Tuesday, April 5 against Point Loma. The team then kicks off its league schedule with back-to-back road games against Scripps Ranch and Patrick Henry before returning home to take on Cathedral Canyon on April 20.

“Looking forward to seeing this team compete for the rest of the year and grow as a team,” said Ichihara. “It’s a great group that I’ll go to battle with any day.”

Mission Bay closes off the league and regular season play on May 13 on the road versus University City.